Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Pizza is a lot like sex . . .(Pizza - Part 1 of 3)

For my first real entry, I would like to document my on-going struggle with the homemade pizza which began with the desire to save money, and avoid the bland, doughy disks that some places label as, "pizza." Why doesn't everyone make pizza at home? Because its too complicated and way too time consuming. If time is money, and you have no taste buds, it's better to buy a pizza then to make it. So here's how to save time AND money and avoid any strenuous dough kneading and hard tack:

Step 1 of 3: The dough

You have two choices: Waste an entire day OR plan ahead. I, obviously, chose the latter. By starting the dough the day before, you can let time do the kneading for you and can ignore the dough entirely until you're ready to make the pizza.

No Knead Pizza Dough

Shopping List:

bread flour

active dry yeast

table salt

Whisk together: 3 cups bread flour ¼ tsp yeast 1½ tsp table salt

Stir in 1½ cups room temperature water with the opposite end of a wooden spoon. Add small amounts of additional water until the dough just comes together.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and let sit for 18-24 hours in a warm place.

Work the dough on a floured surface, folding it over on itself several times, then let it sit, covered for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and shape into balls with a tight top that look like jelly fish without the tentacles. Cover the dough balls with a lightly floured tea towel and let rest for 2 hours.